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For more than a generation The Amateur Magician's Handbook has been the acknowledged classic text for conjurers, both beginners and advanced. Even David Copperfield recommended it during one of his TV specials. Literally thousands of magicians found their love for magic through this book. Several of these magicians are today recognized performers. This fourth edition, expanded as well as thoroughly revised, and introduced by Milbourne Christopher, includes a section where the Amazing Randi contributes his experience using video for self-coaching.
This new edition teaches, briskly yet carefully, with hundreds of illustrations, all the skills and secrets of the wizard's repertoire: reading minds, pulling rabbits from hats, turning red handkerchiefs green, dissolving konts, pouring drinks from empty jars, dealing yourself all the aces, finding silver dollars in the air, to name a few.
The Amateur Magician's Handbook stands alone in showing how and why magic works as entertainment: how spectators think and how you must think, and feel, to make puzzling tricks pleasing.
A comprehensive new section covers the difficult but rewarding (and potentially profitable) art of entertaining children.
The final sections tell you what you need to know about conjuring beyond the tricks: comedy; pantomime; music. An extensive bio-bibliography includes not only the great conjurers of the past but also the up-and-coming conjurers of today.
Lastly, author Henry Hay offers guidance on making magic make money for you. "If I hear of someone's studying The Amateur Magician's Handbook and then climbing out of the amateur class by getting paid for a show," says Henry Hay, "I shall be satisfied."
Table of Contents
- Introduction by Milbourne Christopher
- A Few Words Before Curtain Time
- Chapter One: The Magic State of Mind
- Chapter Two: Hard Easy Tricks and Easy Hard Tricks
- Part One Hand Magic
- Chapter Three: Hand Magic With Cards
- Hand Magic
- Hand Magic with Cards
- 1a. Breaks: little finger
- 1b. The Glimpse
- As Easy As Spelling Your Name
- 1c. Permanent Breaks: the crimp or bridge
- Paul Rosini's Location
- 2. Shifts or Passes
- 2a. The Conventional Two Handed Shift
- The Stabbed Pack: effect
- 2b. The side Steal or Side Slip
- You Must be Wrong: effect
- 2c. The Herrmann Pass
- 2d. One Handed Shifts "New-Method" Robert Houdin
- 2e. One Handed Shifts Old Method
- 2f. One Handed Shifts: The Charlier Pass
- 3. Forcing
- 3a. The Fan Force: the Classic Force
- 3b. Thought Forces: similar to classic force
- 3c. Sure-Fire Force: The slip
- 3d. Sure Fire Force: Stanley Collins Method
- Everybody's Card: effect
- 3e. The Shift
- 4. Palming
- 4a. The Top Palm
- Charles Bertram's Four Ace Trick
- 4b. The Bottom Palm (right hand)
- 4c. The Bottom Palm (left hand)
- 5. False Shuffles
- 5a. Overhand:
- Luis Zingone's Table Spread
- 5b. Dovetail: extensive coverage
- 5c. Hindu Shuffle
- 6. Changes
- 6a. The Double Lift
- 6b. The Top Change
- Step on It!
- 6c. The Bottom Change
- 6d. Palm Change
- 6e. Double Palm Change
- The Phoney Aces
- 7. Color Changes
- 7a. The Clip (Felicien Trewey)
- Wiping Out the Spot and a Production Flourish
- 7b. Sidesteal Color Change
- Correcting a Mistake: effect
- 7c. Far End Steal Color Change
- 7d. Snap Change
- 8. Trick Deals
- 8a. Second Deal
- Five Hands: effect
- 8b. Bottom Deal
- Flourishes
- 9a. The Riffle
- 9b. Springing the Cards
- 9c. Fanning
- 9d. The Back Palm
- Vanish and Recovery: effect
- 9e. Scaling or Throwing Cards
- Chapter Four: Give Them A Rest (Tricks where no cards are chosen)
- 1. The Four Aces
- Nate Leipzig's Slap Aces
- Cardini's Ace Trick
- 2. The Cards Up the Sleeve
- 3. The Diminishing Cards
- 4. The Thirty Card Trick
- 5. More Flourishes: Cards from the mouth and Fan Away
- 6. The Ambitious Card
- 7. The Three Card Trick
- 8. Reading the Cards
- Chapter Five: Please Take a Card - Standard Card Tricks
- 1. Locations
- 1a. The Tap (in-jog)
- 1b. The Side Crimp
- 1c. Approximation, with the Optical Fan Location
- The Optical Fan Location (John Mulholland)
- 2. Card at Any Number
- 3. Stop Me
- 4. Spelling Trick with Spell Charts
- 4a. The Automatic Speller
- 4b. Mental Selection Speller
- 5. Reversed Cards
- 6. The Card in the Pocket
- 7. The Rising Cards
- Chapter Six: Hand Magic with Coins
- 1. The Tourniquet or French Drop
- 2. The Finger Palm
- 3. The Flat Thumb Palm
- 4. The Regular Thumb Palm
- 5. The Regular Palm
- 6. The Edge, Oblique, or Downs' Palm
- 7. The Change Over Palm
- 8. The Back Palm
- 9. The Crotch Palm
- 10. Sleeving (Brief Coverage)
- 11. The Downs' Click Pass
- 12. The Downs' Fan Pass
- 13. The Squeeze Pass
- 14. The DeManche Change
- 15. The Handkerchief Fold
- 16. Flourish: Coin Roll or Steeplechase
- Chapter 7: The Miser's Dream and Other Great Coin Tricks
- 1. Miser's Dream
- 2. Catching Five Coins (Downs' Eureka Pass)
- 3. Manuel's Thumb Gag
- 4. Nate Leipzig's Slow Motion Vanish
- 5. Leipzig's Coin from Hand to Hand
- 6. Coin From Hand to Hand: 3 methods
- 7. Silver and Gold: Version of Dai Vernon's Winged Silver
- 8. The Sympathetic Coins
- 9. Coins Dissolving in a Handkerchief
- 10. The Shake Penetration (Senor Mardo)
- 11. Coins to Handkerchief
- 12. Coin from Handkerchief to Handkerchief
- 13. Trouser Leg Vanish
- 14. The Dissolving Coin (no disk version)
- 15. Finding the Chosen Coin
- 16. Date Detection (Eddie Joseph)
- 17. Coins Up The Sleeve
- Heartbreakers: lots of practice, but little reward
- 18. Heads or Tails: always predict coin flip
- 19. Coins to Glass
- 20. Coin Star (One handed)
- 21. Coin Star (Two handed)
- Chapter 8: Hand Magic With Billiard Balls
- 1. The Palm
- 2. The Finger Palm
- 3. Simulation (acting as though the ball is in the palm)
- 4. Standard Passes
- 5. The Trip Pass
- 6. The Kick Pass
- 7. The Change Over Palm
- 8. Color Changes
- 9. Flourish: Cardini's Climbing Billiard Balls
- Chapter 9: The Multiplying Billiard Balls
- Hay's Routine
- Chapter 10: Other Hand Magic With Balls
- 1. Cups and Balls
- 2. Sponge Balls
- Chapter 11: Hand Magic with Thimbles
- 1. The Thumb Palm
- 2. The Steal Pass
- 3. Thimble Changes
- 4. The Multiplying Thimbles
- Chapter 12: Hand Magic With Cigarettes
- 1. The Thumb Palm
- 2. Tip Tilt Pass
- 3. Poke Through Pass
- 4. King Size Pass
- 5. Tonguing
- 6. Lighted Cigarette Through Handkerchief
- 7. Card in Cigarette
- Part Two: Applied Art: Head Magic
- Chapter 13: Head Magic With Cards
- 1. Locations
- 1a. Unprepared Key Cards
- 1b. Prepared Key Cards
- 2. Mechanical Decks
- 3. Setups
- 3a. Systems: Si Stebbins, 8 Kings, Nikola
- Behind Your Back
- The Shuffled Setup
- The Foolproof Card in Pocket
- 3b. Special Setups
- Sound of the Voice
- Spot Location
- Got any Good Phone Numbers?
- The Royal Marriages (Dai Vernon)
- The 10 Card Trick
- 4. Card Reading
- 4a. By the One Ahead Method
- 4b. The Whispering Queen
- Chapter 14: Varied Head Magic
- 1. Find the Dime (Al Baker)
- 2. Who Has Which?
- 3. Money Sense
- 4. Date Reading
- 5. Coin Telepathy
- 6. Torn and Restored Paper
- 7. Pellet Paper Repeat
- 8. Rubber Pencil
- 9. Rising Cigarette from Pack
- 10. Restored Matches
- 11. Linking Matches
- 12. Ring On Stick (Major Branson, Indian Army)
- 13. The Potsherd Trick
- Part Three: Apparatus Magic
- Chapter 15 - Silks
- 1. Productions:
- Stillwell Ball
- Roterberg Vanisher
- False Finger
- Drumhead Tube
- Phantom Tube
- 2. Vanishes:
- Traditional Method
- Poke Through Vanish
- Pulls
- 3. Color Changing:
- Color Changing Handkerchief
- Dye Tube
- 4. Knots
- Dissolving Knot
- Appearing Knot
- Fake Square Knots
- Knot That Unties Itself
- Sympathetic Silks
- Chapter 16: Small Gimmicks and Fakes
- Thumb Tip
- Finger Tip
- Thumb Writer
- Card Index
- Card Box
- Card Frame
- Pulls
- Hooks
- Tumblers
- Mirror Glass
- Chapter 17: Standard Stuff
- 1. Cut and Restored Rope; 3 methods
- 2. The Egg Bag
- 3. The Passe Passe Bottle and Glass
- 4. Liquid Tricks
- 4a. The Lota: inexhaustible vase of water
- 4b. The Rice Bowls
- 4c. The Funnel
- 4d. The Ching Ling Foo Water Can
- 5. Productions: what to produce
- 5a. Hat Productions
- 5b. The Tambourine
- 5c. Carpet of Bagdad
- 5d. The Jap Box
- 5e. The Organ Pipes
- 6. The Chinese Wands
- 7. The Linking Rings
- Part Four: Mental Magic
- Chapter 18: Mental Magic - Theo Annemann
- 1. Magician or Mind Reader?
- 2. Psychic Slate Test
- 3. Extrasensory Perception
- 4. The Stolen Center Ruse
- 5. Question and Answer
- 6. Stuart Robson's Newspaper Test
- 7. Sid Lorraine's Forty Thousand Words
- 8. One Ahead Reading
- 9. A Day of Your Life
- 10. More Alive Than Dead
- 11. A Mentalist With Money
- 12. The Lyons Bill Switch
- 13. Dr. Daley's Slates
- 14. The Mystery of the Blackboard
- 15. Taps
- Part Five: Intimate Magic
- Chapter 19: Close Up Performance
- 1. Matches
- 1a. The Fire Proof Hand
- 1b. The Extinguisher
- 1c. The Balanced Match
- 1d. The Leaping Flame
- 1e. The X-Ray Cross
- 2. Coin in Roll
- 3. The Torn Cigarette
- 4. Tumblers
- 4a. Balanced Liquid Diet
- 4b. Glass Levitation
- 4c. Coin Through Glass (Bertram)
- 4d. Vanishing Tumbler
- 4e. The Ghost Echo
- 4f. Singing Glass, Peculiar Pellet
- 5. Stringing 'Em Along:
- 5a. The Spiral
- 5b. The Snare
- 5c. The Triple Circle Routine (Jack Salvin and Fred Lowe)
- 5d. Jumping Rubber Band on Fingers
- 5e. Wild West
- 6. Knocking the Spots Off
- 7. Coin Boxes
- 7a. German Box: Ganson routine (summarized)
- 7b. The Okito Box: Tea for Okito from Lewis Ganson's Close Up Vol II
- 7c. Boston Box: Fred Lowe's Boston Three Step from Ganson's Close Up Vol 1
- Part Six: Children's Shows
- Chapter 20: Performing for Children
- Children's Venues
- Resources
- Your Audience
- Casting Yourself
- Children Are Your Guests
- Assistants
- Sucker Gags
- Never Lose Your Temper
- Noise Level
- Closing the Act
- Time
- How Should You Dress?
- The Act
- Music
- Animals
- Hand Puppets
- Giveaways
- What Tricks?
- 1. The Afghan Bands
- 2. The Breakaway Fan
- 3. The Cake Baked In a Hat
- 4. Nest of Boxes
- 5. Sun and Moon
- Part Seven: Platform Magic
- Chapter 21: Platform Magic
- Things You Should Know
- Take Those Articles Along
- The Wand
- Clothes
- Faked Furniture
- Servante
- Black Art Wells
- Coaching Yourself with Videotape (The Amazing Randi)
- Chapter 21: How to Stage a Magic Show: Some Professional Advice
- 1. Comedy
- 2. Pantomime (Louise Gifford)
- 3. Music (Henry Blanchard, Boyd C. Roche)
- 4. Night Club Shows
- 5. Business Methods
- 6. Publicity
- Appendix: Further Tricks and Illusions Glossary
- Biography and Bibliography: Index of magicians and publications
- Index
1st edition 1950; 4th edition 1982; 424 pages
word count: 157813 which is equivalent to 631 standard pages of text
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Reviewed by Cristian Vidrascu
★★★★★ Date Added: Friday 12 July, 2013One of the best books on magic, the only issue I have is with the title: the target audience is not limited to amateurs. If I were dictator of the universe, I would make it required reading for any type of entertainer, especially magicians and mentalists. Covered within are sleight of hand magic versus "head magic" (where ingenious methods not involving sleight of hand are used). There is emphasis on cards, coins, the usual, but what differentiates this from other books on magic is how clearly the psychology of magic is explained. You could tell the author was very sharp, his thought process was very thorough, and his writing style was extremely clear and to the point.
Reviewed by Grandpa Chet Cox (confirmed purchase)
★★★★★ Date Added: Monday 02 August, 2010The BEST single magic book written, bar none. Its only competition is any volume from Tarbell's Course -- and I'd recommend the full Tarbell Course before any one volume. This will not only take a person from beginner to professional, but will improve the act of any professional who studies it. Bob Cassidy calls it the best introduction to mentalism, and I daresay one could say that about any of the genres the book covers. Don't forget to pick up the book ABOUT June Mussey (Hays) -- his real life was just as magical as his wizardry. We need a rating better than "Good" for this book.
Reviewed by Chris Walden
★★★★★ Date Added: Monday 28 January, 2008This book was what led me from the juvenile section to the grown-up book section in my library as a kid. It was incredibly tough trying to learn sleight of hand with few pictures (by today's standards) and a whole lot of narrative. Yet between these covers was a world of magic that I had never imagined. It went far beyond the "make at home" approach I had seen and showed me the full range of sleight-of-hand, mind reading and stage illusions. It not only talked about doing tricks but told stories about what it was like to be a magician and to be around magicians. It taught about the work required to do this stuff right and made it clear that it was not something that would happen in an afternoon. I read and reread that book. When I found a paperback version I snagged it. I finally got a hardback version which I treasure. Now it's here in beautiful, portable, searchable electronic form. It is not the best book for learning any particular branch of the art. But it is a perfect book for acquainting someone with the idea of magic as an art form and the rich palette it provides. Own it. Read it. Grow from it.
Reviewed by Larry Brodahl
★★★★★ Date Added: Wednesday 23 January, 2008One of the absolute best books ever written. It concerns itself not only with how the tricks are done, but why. It talks about when apparatus is better than sleight of hand, and when it's not. Some of the coin work seems supremely complicated, but every book should leave you with something further to learn. This book covers about every basic sleight imaginable, along with many prop items. The updated chapter on close up stuff is also very nice.
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